Kendall Louis

Texas Monthly just released its list of “The 50 Best BBQ Joints” in Texas - a list the pub only releases once every four years. According to a press release from Texas Monthly, full-time barbecue editor Daniel Vaughn and a crew of 24 others spent months taste testing restaurants and food trucks throughout the state.

In the end, only one Fort Worth establishment, Heim Barbecue, made the list.

Every other DFW spot on the list falls well east of Arlington. Those include Lockhart Smokehouse in Oak Lawn, Pecan Lodge in Deep Ellum, Cattleack Barbecue in North Dallas and 4-T'S Bar-B-Q & Catering in Forney. BBQ on the Brazos, 40 minutes southwest of Fort Worth in Cresson, also made the list. Good news is, as the article points out, barbecue is a traveler's game. “Today’s pitmasters provide an excuse for a road trip to just about any far-flung corner,” Vaughn says.

And, this list will compel many to take a road trip to Snow’s BBQ in Lexington. The No. 1 spot on the list this year knocked Franklin Barbecue down one notch and is the only Top 50 joint to receive a rating of 5. The top 10 are as follows:

Snow’s BBQ, Lexington

Franklin Barbecue, Austin

Cattleack Barbeque, Dallas

Bodacious Bar-B-Q, Longview

Louie Mueller Barbecue, Taylor

Tejas Chocolate Craftory, Tomball

CorkScrew BBQ, Spring

Micklethwait Craft Meats, Austin

Evie Mae’s Pit Barbeque, Wolfforth

Truth Barbeque, Brenham

“Barbecue is more urban than ever, and the joints are younger than ever, as a new generation of entrepreneurs joins the time-honored masters of the craft,” the press release said. Both observations apply to Fort Worth’s Heim as proprietor Travis Heim is just 28 years old. Heim earned a rating of 4 (the minimum required to make the list, although not all 4’s are in the top 50) with a special call out for it’s bacon burnt ends.

To celebrate “The 50 Best BBQ Joints” issue, Texas Monthly has released a limited number of early-bird tickets to the Texas Monthly BBQ Fest weekend at TexasMonthly.com/tmbbqfest.